2007 Withington Onwards Travel Award Winners

Following the Withington Onwards (formerly Senior Club) Millennium Reunion, a Withington Onwards Travel Award Fund was established. Each year, members of the Upper Sixth are invited to submit written applications for an award of up to £100 towards Gap year travels incorporating work for the benefit of others.

This year has seen an unprecedented level of interest from candidates for the 2007 Withington OnwardsTravel Award. We extend our warmest congratulations to the following winners, announced at Final Assembly on Friday 6th July 2007, who all receive £100 awards:

Rachel Cassidy ('06)

Rachel is currently studying Philosophy, Politics & Economics at Worcester College, Oxford. She was recently selected by the charity Future for Nepal to take part in a project which aims to give children in Nepal a better start in life. During her expedition, Rachel will be working in a school, on a farm and in a women's refuge centre and is also planning a challenging trek to Everest Base Camp.

Rosemary Nance ('07)

India is the destination of Upper Sixth leaver, Rosemary, who is heading to Manali in the foothills of the Himalayas for her eleven-week voluntary teaching placement this summer. She will also be involved in other community projects such as whitewashing the school and helping in a local orphanage.

Nutan Anya Patel ('04)

Nutan is currently studying medicine at the University of Birmingham. She will be travelling to Zambia in 2007 to assist at a rural health centre project run by students of the Birmingham Medical School on behalf of the charity, Students for Kids International Projects (SKIP).

The project is based in Kanakantapa, a resettlement area about an hour and half's drive outside the capital city of Lusaka. Nutan's work is likely to involve assisting in the health education scheme, teaching English, Maths and Science in schools built by the charity and helping with the year-round feeding programme.

Leanne Royle ('07)

An exciting gap year lies ahead for Leanne during which she plans to spend 3 months travelling to Africa with a small group of young adults.

Following a fortnight of Swahili lessons, the group will spend time in Tanzania and Uganda, before Leanne sets off to Kenya to complete a personal challenge.

Based initially in Moshi, Tanzania, she will be working with the African Blackwood Conservation Project to replenish their decreasing ebony tree population. In Mwanza, the second assignment will involve assisting teachers at a local orphanage and helping to improve various facilities for the children.

From children to chimps!…..The final venture is based in Uganda and will see Leanne helping to develop a chimpanzee sanctuary on an island in the Nile where the focus is reforestation and the development of visitor facilities.

Before returning home to start medical school, Leanne's final challenge of the trip involves trekking both Mount Kenya and Mount Kilimanjaro, taking in sights such as the Ngorongoro Crater, the Serengeti Safari and Murchison Falls.

Emma Slater (‘04)

After completing her degree in Law at Bristol University this summer, Emma will be spending a month working at the Inter Christian Fellowship's Evangelical Mission in Kimilili, Kenya. We are particularly delighted that Emma has received this award, in light of the long association that fellow alumna, Ann Lipson (‘56), has with the Mission.

Their aim is to serve the local community through primary healthcare, livelihood projects and outreach programmes and during her visit to the Mission, Emma will be teaching school children, as well as helping to evaluate funding requirements in the province. WGS sponsors pupils at the school she will be visiting, so Emma is especially looking forward to presenting the school with the money raised for them during the 2007 Summer Term.

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Congratulations to Rachel, Rosemary, Nutan, Leanne and Emma, all of whom have chosen such worthwhile projects. We wish them every success in their respective ventures and look forward to hearing about their experiences when they return.